Update: Baldwin drug suspects rounded up (with photo galleries)

Corey Pruitt of Fairhope, Ala., was among 18 suspected drug dealers whose arrests were announced on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010, by the Baldwin County Drug Task Force. Each of those arrested was charged with distribution of a controlled substance, a felony that carries a penalty of two to 20 years in prison, Baldwin County District Attorney Judy Newcomb said.

ROBERTSDALE, Ala. -- Baldwin County authorities have charged 18 people with being drug dealers and are looking for 14 more following a countywide undercover operation lasting several months, Sheriff Huey "Hoss" Mack said Wednesday.

"The focus of this investigation was primarily what is commonly referred to as street-level distribution," Mack said. "The reason the task force has focused on this is because we believe this is a high-impact crime affecting most individuals, dealing to the husbands, the wives, the children of individuals in this county."

District Attorney Judy Newcomb said officials hope to use the investigation to find higher-level distributors, but the operation was intended to get dealers off the streets.

"We're always trying to work it up the ladder to the bigger people, but we've got to stop these people that are getting it to our kids and that's what this focus was," Newcomb said.

Mack said the Sheriff's Office, U.S. Marshal's Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, District Attorney's Office and police departments of Loxley, Foley and Daphne took part in the Baldwin County Drug Task Force operation.

"The Sheriff's Office could not do this by itself, nor could these municipalities," Mack said. "We partner together and draw from resources of manpower, equipment and expertise, and in doing so we were able to bring this investigation about and it still continues."

Undercover officers with the different departments found people whom they suspected of dealing drugs and bought powder and crack cocaine, marijuana and prescription pills, Maj. Anthony Lowery, Sheriff's Office spokesman, said.

"They weren't trying to make big buys," he said. "They were after what the dealer would sell to an average person."

By going after drug dealers, police can also cut other forms of crime, Foley Chief David Wilson said.

"There is a lot of crime associated with drug use," Wilson said. "There's usually a high number of property crimes and, unfortunately, there's violent crimes that come with drug use, so we will continue to work together and surgically remove these folks from our neighborhoods in Baldwin County."

The arrested suspects were charged with one to seven counts of distribution of a controlled substance. A person convicted of the felony can be sentenced to two to 20 years in prison, Newcomb said.

Suspects arrested on charges of distribution of a controlled substance during an undercover investigation by the Baldwin County Drug Task Force include:

Reginald Crawford, Daphne, five counts

Terry Wright, Daphne, two counts

Timothy Autry, Daphne, three counts

Byron Sledge, Fairhope, three counts; also charged with second-degree possession of marijuana